then a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States. The Supreme Court of Virginia contested the right of
the Supreme Court of the United States to judge an appeal from its
decisions, but unsuccessfully. See "Kent's Commentaries," vol. i. p.
300, pp. 370 et seq.; Story's "Commentaries," p. 646; and "The Organic
Law of the United States," vol. i. p. 35.]

This was a severe blow upon the independence of the States, which was
thus restricted not only by the laws, but by the interpretation of them;
by one limit which was known, and by another which was dubious; by a
rule which was certain, and a rule which was arbitrary. It is true the
Constitution had laid down the precise limits of the Federal supremacy,
but whenever this supremacy is contested by one of the States, a Federal
tribunal decides the question. Nevertheless, the dangers with which the
independence of the States was threatened by this mode of proceeding are
less serious than they appeared to be. We shall see hereafter that in
America the real strength of the country is vested in the provincial far
more than in the Federal Government. The Federal judges are conscious of
the relative weakness of the power in whose name they act, and they are
more inclined to abandon a right of jurisdiction in cases where it is
justly their own than to assert a privilege to which they have no legal
claim.

Different Cases Of Jurisdiction

The matter and the party are the first conditions of the Federal
jurisdiction--Suits in which ambassadors are engaged--Suits of the
Union--Of a separate State--By whom tried--Causes resulting from the
laws of the Union--Why judged by the Federal tribunals--Causes relating
to the performance of contracts tried by the Federal courts--Consequence
of this arrangement.

After having appointed the means of fixing the competency of the Federal
courts, the legislators of the Union defined the cases which should come
within their jurisdiction. It was established, on the one hand, that
certain parties must always be brought before the Federal courts,
without any regard to the special nature of the cause; and, on the
other, that certain causes must always be brought before the same
courts, without any regard to the quality of the parties in the suit.
These distinctions were therefore admitted to be the basis of the
Federal jurisdiction.

Ambassadors are the representatives of nations in a state of amity
with the Union, and whatever concer